My Road to the Olympia Week One

by: John Hansen - July 8th, 2007

My Road to the Olympia

Week 1 – The Breaking In Period

Monday, July 2nd
I started off my diet today with my bodyweight at 213 pounds and a 35 ½” waist. I went out to eat a few times over the weekend to get my last few meals in before starting my diet. This included some Carne Asada at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants last night. Of course, this meal included a large strawberry margarita and as many chips and salsa as I could fit in before the meal arrived. I knew the sodium from the chips and salsa alone probably added a good ½” to my waist.
This may not be the best week to start my diet since it is a holiday week with the 4th of July on Wednesday. I figured I could at least start eating clean again with no more excessive cheating and no more restaurant food. I have 2 ½” to lose over a 13 week period so if I don’t make progress for a week or two, I should still have time to reach my goal. I usually lose about ¼” off my waist each week which means I would need 10 weeks to get down to a 33” waist from where I am at now.
I started off today with a protein drink consisting of 1 scoop of Whey Gold Standard and 1 scoop of Pro Complex before I headed off to my training studio to train my first client. I came home for breakfast about 2 hours later and had my typical breakfast of 1 egg, 9 egg whites (scrambled together) along with 1 cup of oatmeal and ½ cup of frozen blueberries.
About 2 ½ hours later, I had another protein drink made of 1 scoop of Pro Complex, 1 scoop of Casein Protein and 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil. In the afternoon, I had my typical lunch, which was 4 oz. of lean ground turkey, 145 grams of sweet potato and 3 oz of broccoli.
I had some more clients to train in the afternoon so I took along another protein drink, which I made with 2 scoops of Casein Protein and another tablespoon of flaxseed oil. When I got home from training all my clients, I had to get ready to go to the gym. I’ve been training later for the summer because my training partner works a full day as a tennis pro so we’ve been training after I finish up my last client at night which is usually around 7pm. For my pre-workout drink about 30 minutes before I trained, I had an ABB Whey Force Shake and one serving of Vassive CE creatine.
My workout today was awesome. I decided to try something new and superset chest and back instead of my normal training routine which would have me training chest with triceps and back with biceps. My new strategy for the next few months is to use the superset routine with two workouts of the week and then go heavy with single sets for the other two workouts. The following week, I will switch things up by supersetting the muscle groups I worked heavy the previous week and going heavy on the muscle groups I supersetted the week before.
For my chest and back superset, my training partner Matt and I did our chest exercise first followed immediately by our back exercise. Here is how it went:

Chest Back
Bench Press – 135x15, 225x10 Close-Grip Pulldowns – 130x15, 180x12
Bench Press – 275x6, 285x5x2 Wide-Grip Chins – BWx10, 9, 8
Incline DB Press – 100x10, 120x5x2 DB Rows – 110x12, 130x8, 7
Flyes – 80x10, 85x8, 8 T-Bar Rows – 4x12, 4+25x10, 5x8
DB Pull-overs - 100x12, 100x10 Hyper-Ext. – BWx20, 45x15x2

I was super pumped up after this workout. Damn, there is no better feeling than having your chest and back pumped at the same time. The whole upper body gets pumped to the max- the chest, back, delts, biceps and triceps. It was a tough workout but it felt great at the end.
I had Matt take some pictures of me after the workout was over and my abs were covered by a couple of inches of adipose tissue that I’m going to eliminate by the time I get to Vegas. I even bravely hit an ab shot for the camera so I have a good “before” shot when it’s all finished.

Immediately after the workout I had my recover drink, After Max, along with another serving of Vassive CE and glutamine. Since we didn’t even start the workout until 7:00pm, I didn’t get home until after 9:00pm. At about 9:30, I had my last meal of the day which was dinner. I had a 3 ½ oz serving of round steak and ½ cup of green peas and along with another Whey Force Shake.
My total calories for the day came out to 3186 calories which is a little higher than my normal workout day diet. My protein was 375 grams, carbs were at 257 grams and my fat intake was 63 grams. Good first day!

Tuesday, July 3rd
I woke up today with a 35 ¼” waist and my bodyweight was at 213 pounds. I figured it was probably from losing some of the sodium from my Mexican dinner on Sunday. My chest was pretty sore when I woke up from the good workout I had last night.
I didn’t have a client at 6am today so I was able to get in breakfast before I went off to train my first client. I had the same thing I always have, 1 egg with 9 egg whites and one cup of oatmeal with ½ cup of blueberries.
About 2 ½ hours later, I had a protein drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex and 1 scoop of Casein protein with 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil. For lunch in the afternoon, I had 4.4 oz. of lean ground turkey with 145 grams of sweet potato and 3 oz. of broccoli. Later in the afternoon, I had another protein drink with 1 scoop of Pro Complex and 1 scoop of Casein protein.
About 30 minutes before I headed off to the gym, I had a Whey Force Shake with 1 serving of creatine. During my workout, I made up a drink which consisted of a serving of Vassive-NO and a serving of Adenergy. I thought this might help me get a better pump during the workout and keep my energy up. It seemed to work because I got an awesome pump in my arms this workout!
I supersetted biceps and triceps today since I did my chest and back the day before. I am scheduled to train delts and calves on Thursday and legs on Friday so this would be the best time to train arms. Since my triceps are a weaker bodypart than my biceps, I started off with the triceps exercise and followed it up with the biceps exercise. In fact, my first exercise I did by itself without supersetting because I wanted to get a good pump in the triceps first.
It took a couple sets to warm up my elbows before I started adding weight. I’m used to doing triceps after chest so my elbows are usually warmed up when I get to triceps but I didn’t have that luxury today. I had to do about 2 real light sets of tricep pushdowns before my elbows felt good enough to add some weight. Here is how the workout went:

Tricep Pushdowns – 50x30, 75x15, 100x12, 110x10, 120x10

Decline Tricep Ext. – 80x12, 100x10, 120x10, 140x8
Supersetted with
Alternate DB Curls – 35x12, 45x10, 55x8, 65x6

Dips – BWx12, 25x10, 35x10
Supersetted with
Preacher Curls – 90x10, 100x10, 110x8

Reverse Curls – 100x10, 100x10
Supersetted with
One-Arm DB Ext. – 35x12, 35x15

I was surprised how many reps I was getting with the heavier sets on this workout. It seemed like the more pumped I got, the stronger I was getting. My triceps, in particular, were getting a great pump and a great workout. I think this supersetting every other week is really going to work out good.
After the workout, I had 3 scoops of After Max Recovery drink along with a packet of Vassive CE creatine. About 30 minutes after I got home, I had dinner which was 6 oz. of marinated salmon and 1 cup of green beans.
Since it was the night before the 4th of July, my training partner Matt and I decided to head out to Naperville, Illinois to check out the famous Ribfest. Since I just ate my salmon and green beans for dinner, I didn’t plan on eating ribs which I really don’t like anyway.
Good thing I ate dinner ahead of time because Ribfest was so overcrowded, they were not even letting anyone in by the time we got there. Matt and I decided to head into downtown Naperville and check out the local Bar Louie. The place was pretty packed but we found a seat at the bar and hung out there for a few hours.
Matt is trying to gain weight so he ordered 2 cheeseburgers and I got hungry again so I decided to order one too. After 3 mint mojitos and a large cheeseburger, I was now officially off my diet. Oh well, it IS a holiday, right?
When I got home later that night, I had my protein drink for the night which was 2 scoops of Casein Protein and 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil and then it was bedtime.

Wednesday, July 4th
When I got up today after my late night cheat last night, my waist was back up to 35 ½” and my weight was up to 214.5 pounds. Not surprising considering the amount of sodium in restaurant food (not to mention the added fat in the cheeseburger).
Today was my day off from the gym and I didn’t have any clients today so I hung around the house in the morning before heading over to my parents house to celebrate the holiday. I ate my typical breakfast and then I had a protein drink about 3 hours later. I left to go to my parents house at about 2pm and I didn’t even bring any of my diet food with me because I knew I was going to go off the diet again today.
My whole upper body was sore and pumped today from the last two days of training. My triceps, in particular, were really sore and pumped from the pounding I gave them yesterday. My left elbow was a little tender but that’s my bad elbow so that was to be expected from the pounding I gave it the last two days.
I stayed off the diet today when I was at my parents house. My Dad cooked a roast on his new grill and I had that along with mashed potatoes and corn. A great meal for bulking up but not necessarily for losing fat but that’s ok, I knew I was off the diet today before I left the house.
When I got back home later that day, I just had a protein drink along with my latest cheat food, Orville Redenbacher’s low-fat popcorn. Back on track tomorrow!

Thursday, July 5th
Another day back in the gym today. I was scheduled to train delts, traps and calves. I wanted to train my delts heavy since my last two workouts were superset workouts. I love doing the seated military press but they are murder on my lower back. I have compressed discs in my lower back from the torture I’ve been inflicting on myself for the last 30 years so I have to be careful about what exercises I can do now.
As an alternative to doing standard seated military presses, I decided to do 1 ½ reps instead. In other words, I lowered the bar all the way to the bottom, then went halfway up, went back down to the bottom and then all the way back up. That was one rep. This training method increased the intensity of the exercise without having to go really heavy.
I used 135x10 reps on the first set, then 155x7 reps on the second and 175x6 reps on the last set using the 1 ½ reps training technique. This worked out great and I got a great pump in my delts.
Next, I did side lateral raises for the side delts. I feel I need more size to the side (medial) head of the delts. I usually do 4 sets on this exercise after my delts are pumped from the initial pressing exercise. I used 40 lb. dumbbells for 12 reps on the first set to get a pump going. For the next 3 sets, I supersetted the regular set with another heavy set of partial side lateral raises to build up that area of the side delts that attaches to the arm.
I used 45 lb. dumbbells for my second set for 10 reps and I used the 70 lb. dumbbells for 6 partial reps immediately after. For the next two sets, I did 50 lb. dumbbells for 8 reps followed by the 70’s for 5 partial reps and 55 lb. dumbbells for 6 reps followed by 5 partial reps.
I trained the rear delts next by doing bent-over lateral raises with 35 lb. dumbbells for 10 reps, 40 lb. dumbbells for 8 reps and 45 lb. dumbbells for 8 reps. This was followed by Shrugs with a barbell. I do these seated on the end of an exercise bench which seems to take my lower back out of the movement and prevents me from hurting it. I went pretty heavy on these, warming up with 225 for 12, 315x10 and 365x10 and 8 reps for the last two sets.
Matt and I trained calves next starting off with the best calf exercise, Donkey Calf Raises. Matt weighs about 180 pounds and I used his bodyweight along with a 45 pound plate attached to the weight belt. I pounded out 25 reps with this set and then increased the weight on the belt to 135 pounds along with Matt’s bodyweight. I did two sets of 20 reps with this heavier weight.
We finished off the workout with Calf Raises on the Leg Press machine. I used 6 plates on each side of the machine for the first set for 12 reps and then 7 plates on each side for 10 reps and two sets. Good, heavy workout today!
My bodyweight was actually down a pound today to 213.5 pounds but my waist was still at 35 ½” because of my cheat day yesterday at my parents house. I stayed on my diet according to schedule today but, after the workout, Matt and I decided to go out to a restaurant/bar in the area that is supposed to be a hot spot on Thursday night.
I skipped dinner because we were supposed to grab some sushi before going to the bar but the place we were at was not serving dinner anymore by the time we go there. We decided to get dinner at the restaurant we were going to instead. I ordered BBQ salmon along with mashed potatoes. Off the diet again at dinner but I did skip dessert. LOL

Friday, July 6th
Today I woke up with the same weight and waist that I had the day before, 213.5 pounds and 35 ½” waist. It’s amazing how I can follow the diet strict all day but if I go off it with just one meal, progress comes to a halt and I don’t make any changes.
The metabolism is pretty predictable once you go through this “on and off” dieting phases that someone like myself seems to do on a regular basis. In order to make real progress and lose fat, you have to stay very strict on the diet until the fat loss process gets started and then begins to gain momentum. It’s almost like a big freight train that needs to gain steam before it can start moving.
Once the metabolism is going strong and the fat loss is not only consistent and predictable but it begins to accelerate, then you can actually increase your calories or even introduce a “cheat meal” into the equation once a week or so. This is because the metabolism has changed direction from before you started the diet and the consistent fat loss has increased everything to the point where you are burning calories and everything is operating faster. Now, the momentum is on your side and you are able to lose fat pretty easily. It’s like that same freight train moving down the tracks at a fast rate of speed.
I trained legs tonight with Matt and Erin who is a local figure competitor and a friend of mine. Erin is planning on competing next year in the Jr. Nationals and she wants to make improvements to her legs before she gets onstage again.
We started off with abs, doing hanging knee raises and supersetting them with kneeling cable crunches. I did 2 sets of each exercise, getting off 40 reps on the knee raises for the first set and 30 reps on the second set. For the cable crunches, I used the full stack of 150 pounds for 30 and 20 reps, respectively.
For legs, we started off with 3 sets of leg extensions. I like using the Flex equipment for my leg extensions because I get a good stretch at the bottom of each rep so I get a better pump in the upper thighs. I did 25 reps with 150 pounds for the first set, 180 pounds for 15 reps for the second set and 225 pounds for 10 reps on the last set.
Next up was squats. I’ve had a really hard time squatting over the last few years because of the compressed discs in my lower back. The problem has been worse this year for some reason. I have been using the pause squats instead of regular squats so I don’t have to use as much weight. This is where I pause at the bottom position for a two second count before coming back up.
Because the problem with my lower back seems to be worse, I told Matt to give me a longer count so I could reduce the weight but keep the intensity high. Instead of a quick “one, two” count, Matt now tells me “one thousand one, one thousand two, UP” before I can come back up.
I can usually only do about 315 pounds for 10 reps using this longer pause at the bottom of the movement. However, today, I was only able to do one set with 315 for 8 reps. When I went to do the second set, the pain in my lower back was too much and I knew if I pushed it, I would be paying for it for the next week.
Instead of inflicting unnecessary pain on my lower back, I decided to go to hack squats. Erin and Matt were already one set ahead of me when I got there so I started with 2 45’s on each side for 10 reps. I make the hack squats harder by using the same 1 ½ reps technique that I used on the seated military press yesterday. Doing 1 ½ reps on legs is absolutely brutal! The pump and ache in the whole leg (quads, hams and glutes) is really intense, especially when you do them after squats.
After the first set with 2 plates on each side, I did two more sets with 3 plates on each side. I was able to get 8 reps on the first set with 3 plates and barely 7 reps with the second set. My leg workouts haven’t been that intense or consistent over the last month and a half so I am looking forward to really pushing myself hard over the next 12 weeks.
Hamstrings were next so Matt, Erin and I headed over the leg curl machine. My legs were aching so much, I didn’t go crazy on the leg curls. I did my first set with 110 pounds for 12 reps, 120 pounds for 10 reps on my second set and 130 pounds for 8 reps on my last set.
We finished off with two sets of barbell stiff-leg deadlifts. I went only moderately heavy on these also. I used 185 pounds for 12 reps on the first set and 225 pounds for 10 reps on the second set. That was it for that workout!

Saturday, July 7th
I had a great week of working out this week. I loved the superset workout with my chest and back and also with my biceps and triceps. They both worked out better than I thought they would and I think including these workouts into my program every other week will really stimulate some new muscle growth as I start losing the bodyfat.
I was feeling the soreness today as my traps were still sore from the heavy shrugs on Thursday and even my delts were pretty sore. My legs were just starting to get sore from the pounding I gave them yesterday and I knew they would be even more sore tomorrow because the second day is always the worst.
My bodyweight was 215.5 pounds on my digital scale first thing in the morning and my waist was still at 35 ½”. I’ve been cheating too much this week to expect anything different. Matt and I went out to the bars three times this week and I ate whatever I wanted at my parents house on the 4th so I knew I would not lose much if any fat this week.
I was off training today so I spent most of this hot day (in the 90’s) driving around Bolingbrook and Romeoville, Illinois looking for a hotel. I am promoting my first bodybuilding contest in three weeks on July 28th in Romeoville High School and I need to find a host hotel for the competitors who will be traveling from out of town. Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to any managers because most of them don’t work weekends so I just collected a lot of business cards so I could follow up on Monday.
I did stay on my diet today though. Matt was hanging out with his girlfriend all day today so I didn’t have anyone to go out and eat and drink with. Good thing too because I have to get this diet started sometime. Only 12 weeks left until the big Mr. Olympia contest in Las Vegas!
I only had six meals today and I kept the carbs moderately low. Here is what today’s diet looked like:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal and ½ cup of blueberries.
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex, 1 scoop of Casein protein and 1 T. flaxseed oil.
Meal 3 – Protein drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex and 1 scoop of Casein protein.
Meal 4 – 4 oz. lean ground turkey, 135 grams sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli.
Meal 5 – 6 oz. marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans, 1 bag of Orville Redenbacher popcorn.
Meal 6 – Protein drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein and 1 T. flaxseed oil.

This came out to 2486 calories with 261 grams of protein, 181 grams of carbs and 77 grams of fat. Except for the popcorn (low in fat but lots of carbs), I was right on track.

Sunday, July 8th
Last day of the week of my first week of dieting. My bodyweight was down to 212.5 pounds today with my waist down to 35 ¼”. I was off from the gym today also so I was good and I stayed on the diet again.
My diet was the same as yesterday except I had 4.5 oz. of round steak for dinner instead of salmon and I did add a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread to one of my meals BUT I skipped the popcorn. The totals for today came out to 2476 calories, 273 grams of protein, 163 grams of carbs and 68 grams of fat.
All in all, not a bad first week considering it was a “breaking in” week for the dieting. My training this week was really good and I will continue to increase the intensity each week. As for the diet, I will unfortunately have to cut out the social life for the time being in order to lose the fat. I know I won’t make much progress if I continue cheating so, if I want to ripped, I have to be strict!

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